Pinglu Canal to boost China-ASEAN trade: Singaporean official

China's newly opened Pinglu Canal will boost trade with Singapore and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by strengthening Beibu Gulf shipping and complementing the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a senior Singaporean official said on Saturday.

Speaking on the sidelines of the China-ASEAN Expo in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Low Yen Ling, Singapore's senior minister of state of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), congratulated the project on its launch.

"Congratulations to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and China [at large]. This project, launched four years ago with over 70 billion yuan, optimizes Beibu Gulf shipping and connects Guangxi with Southeast Asia. It complements the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Together, they can expand the pie, reaching western China and even Central Asia. With AI, the potential is unlimited. Singapore-Guangxi trade reached 2.13 billion U.S. dollars in 2025, up 57.7 percent. With the canal, our trade will keep rising." Low said.

The Pinglu Canal opened on Wednesday, giving China's landlocked southwest a shortcut to coast and overseas markets, particularly ASEAN. Built at a cost of 72.7 billion yuan (about 10.75 billion dollars), the 134.2-kilometer canal runs from Nanning, capital of Guangxi, to the Beibu Gulf.

Designed for vessels of up to 5,000 tons, the canal shortens the inland waterway journey from southwest China to the sea by more than 560 kilometers compared with traditional routes through Guangdong ports. It is expected to reduce overall logistics costs by 18 to 30 percent and save more than 5 billion yuan in transportation costs annually.

Stretching along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, the canal is the first river-to-sea waterway project planned and coordinated at the national level since 1949. It opens in the first year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) as the country seeks to promote more coordinated regional development and expand high-standard opening up.

China's trade with ASEAN exceeded 1 trillion dollars for the first time last year. In the first seven months of 2026, total trade between the two sides reached 744.41 billion dollars, up 24.7 percent year on year, accounting for 21.8 percent of China's total foreign trade during the period.

Pinglu Canal to boost China-ASEAN trade: Singaporean official

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that participation in the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York is Iran's "legal right."

"Being present in New York holds absolutely no appeal for Iran's representatives. However, it is a stronghold that must not be abandoned. Iran's participation in the UNGA's session is a legal right, not a favor to be granted to us by someone. Iran is one of the UN's 50 founding members," Baghaei said in an interview with state-run IRIB TV.

"It is our duty as the Iranian nation's representatives to attend this major international event to make the world hear the Iranian people's rightfulness," he said, accusing "the other side" of employing every available tool to prevent the Iranian delegation's participation.

Such "obstructionism and negative propaganda" will never make Iran back down from its legitimate right to participate in the session and articulate its positions, he said.

The United States said it would issue visas to Iran's "core delegation" for the UNGA "consistent with our host country obligations," according to a statement by the U.S. State Department on Thursday.

"The delegation is smaller than last year," the statement said.

Iran says participation in UNGA session its "legal right"